Roadside bomb kills 25 Afghan bus riders

Thursday

Jul 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMJul 29, 2010 at 11:05 AM

KABUL - A bomb blast tore through a crowded passenger bus on a desert highway in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing 25 of those on board and injuring about 20 others, some seriously, government officials said. All were described as civilians.

KABUL - A bomb blast tore through a crowded passenger bus on a desert highway in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing 25 of those on board and injuring about 20 others, some seriously, government officials said. All were described as civilians.

Afghan and Western officials denounced the insurgency for the planting of homemade bombs along roads heavily used by civilians. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, usually are aimed at Afghan and NATO forces, but they often maim and kill noncombatants.

About 7,000 Afghan civilians were killed by IEDs from 2004 to 2009, according to classified military documents posted on the Internet this week by the advocacy group WikiLeaks.

Yesterday, the Pentagon said it's reviewing the tens of thousands of classified battlefield reports made public this week to determine whether Afghan informants were identified and could be at risk of reprisals.

A search by The New York Times through a sampling of the documents released by WikiLeaks found reports that gave the names of dozens of Afghans credited with providing credible information to U.S. and NATO troops.

One U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, said government lawyers are exploring whether WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, could be charged with a crime.

The bus was traveling on a main road in Nimroz province, bound for Kabul, when it struck the buried bomb. Many Afghans cannot afford cars and rely on passenger buses and minivans.

A NATO patrol came upon the charred bus and helped treat the wounded, Western military officials said.

The blast took place near volatile Helmand province, which has been the site of heavy fighting between NATO forces and the Taliban.

Meanwhile, military officials reported yesterday that a U.S. service member was killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Officials also reported the deaths of two Italian soldiers in a roadside bombing north of Herat yesterday, the Italian Defense Ministry said.

June was the deadliest month of the 9-year-old war for U.S. troops, with 60 deaths. July appears likely to equal or surpass that record, as 59 service members have died this month.

The rising death toll comes as U.S. forces continue the search for a missing Navy sailor thought to have been captured last week by Taliban forces when he and a colleague drove into an insurgent-held area of eastern Afghanistan. One of the sailors was killed in a firefight with militants, and the Taliban has said they seized the other.